The Book

Twenty years of addiction to cloud, a drug which wipes the user's short-term memory, have left single mom Mellie with her mind in fragments. With the help of a tough-minded sponsor, and motivated by her own medically-challenged daughter, Mellie clings to a fragile sobriety. Then, on the evening of her twenty-ninth day sober, a stranger pulls into her driveway and her heart surges. However, when Mellie's pursuit of this man and the past they may share threatens her sponsor, Mellie will have to put her tiny family and her recovery at risk in hopes of saving the woman who saved her first.

The Author

Melanie Conroy-Goldman is the author of The Likely World. A Professor of Creative Writing at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, she was a founding director of the Trias Residency for Writers. Her fiction has been published in Southern Review, StoryQuarterly, in anthologies and online. She volunteers at a maximum security men’s prison with the Cornell Prison Education Program. She lives in Ithaca, New York with her husband, daughter and step-daughters.

The Moderator

Elizabeth Kadetsky’s memoir in essays, THE MEMORY EATERS, was the winner of the Juniper Prize in Creative Nonfiction. A two-time Fulbright fellow, she is the author of FIRST THERE IS A MOUNTAIN, ON THE ISLAND AT THE CENTER OF THE CENTER OF THE WORLD, and THE POISON THAT PURIFIES YOU. She is an associate professor of fiction and nonfiction at Penn State University and a nonfiction editor at New England Review.

The Bookstore

Brookline Booksmith, est. 1961, is a family owned bookstore located in the heart of Brookline, Massachusetts. Through our thoughtful curation, eager and voracious booksellers, and award-winning events series—including the celebrated Transnational Literature Series—we strive to be a haven for those who find comfort, enrichment, and joy in books. Find more at brooklinebooksmith.com!

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